What if?
by MissLilli
Summary: AU Story: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant at 16, is a successful buisness-woman and one day ran into Luke
1. 1 Chapter

**Disclaimer**: I don't own them, okay? I just like to play with them, so don't hunt me down for copyright infringement :)

**Author's Notes**: I would like to dedicate this story to all my designated readers over at the German GGs message board:

Corinna: For always being there and helping me out when I have to make some "life-altering decisions" and always being the first to give me her feedback. Thanks for all the Late-Night sessions, encouraging me to write yet another Chapter :) Luv you babe, you rock!!

CMM: With her dirty mind and hilarious remarks she lightened many dark moments and I wanna thank her for that! Lauren rox, right?? :)

heliveli: For crying with my story and sharing her feelings with us, plus I want to give her a huge fictional hug for starting the MissLilli Fanclub, love ya for this!!

JessiesGirl2004: For giving me my first feedback for this story and for sticking with me for such a long time!

CrazyCake: For always reading my stuff and reviewing right away, thanks!

And I basically want to thank everyone who puts up with my FF, I know how hard it is to read something that's not in your mother language, so THANK YOU for trying!!

Okay, 'nuff said, let's get this baby on the road:

Lorelai Gilmore grimaced in disgust as she took one sip out of her styrofoam coffee cup and made a mental note to yell at her secretary for nor telling her how disturbingly fast the quality of Starbuck's Coffee has declined.

She frowned at the cup as she was getting off the elevator and almost bumped into a guy carrying a tray of steaming coffee cups and was looking around frantically, apparently lost. Stopping in her tracks to avoid bumping into him she turned her anger from her coffee to the man in front of her

"Whoa, geez, when you went to work today you obviously left your _brains_ at home! Watch it buddy, this is a D&G suit and it's brand new, so mind where you're going, will ya?" she hissed at him, threw the Starbuck's cup into a near trash can and grabbed a cup from his tray

"What the hell are you doing here anyway?" she enquired, narrowing her eyes at the guy.

"We- well my .... um ...."

"Mind getting to the point here, I don't have all day!" Lorelai rolled her eyes at his density.

He cleared his throat

"My delivery guy has called in sick and because you're my best paying customer I decided to deliver it myself"

"Well then deliver, people are working here, we're not paying you to stand around like an idiot" she snapped "What's your name anyway?"

His eyes widened at the injustice of her words

"Name's Luke"

"Okay Duke, I gotta get to work" and without another word, she breezed through the door, gesticulating wildly at the people she passed as she went down the aisle to her office.

---

"Linda, get these projections to my office right away, I needed them _yesterday _already but you were too stupid to remember right? Ben, why didn't you pick up the storyboards at the printer? I have an important meeting today, did you forget that? And Michelle, get me Mr. Booker on the phone, you know, that idiot from the Nike's department that seemed to have "lost" our suggestions" she stormed past, barking orders to people, picking up on her horrendous working speed.

She entered her office not even noticing the beautiful view of New York that the penthouse office provided, plopped down on her expensive Italian chair and pushed a button on the intercom. "Gracie, come in here please, right now!" She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, feeling the familiar migraine coming on.

"Geez, did you hop here on one foot? What took you so long?" she roared at her secretary, who timidly stepped into the office

"Sorry Miss Gilmore, but I was on the phone with my daughter, she's-"

"I don't _care _about your stupid daughter, I have a huge business to run here, not some family restaurant! So, could you get me a phone number please? I need to call out affiliates in Paris, they're having troubles with the insurance company. Oh and I also need a bunch of Tylenols and a glass of water. Why are you still standing here??" waving her secretary off, she opened up the file on her desk and started signing the papers.

Half an hour later she closed the file with a sigh and rubbed her eyes. The Tylenol was finally kicking in and she checked her watch.

'_Yup, time for the meeting with Johnny'_

Noone was able to annoy her like her customer Johnny Walker but he meant good money for the firm so she ad to put up with him." She reluctantly got out of her seat, shook her head to clear it from the many plans on how to murder Johnny the most painful way and stepped out of her office.

She marched down the aisle only stopping to look over one of her assistant's shoulders and tapping the paper in front of him

"You might wanna rethink that tagline there, it's not what out customer's going for" Lorelai patted him on the shoulder and continued heading for the elevator.

She pushed the button to go up and tapped her shoes in annoyance. The elevator didn't arrive until 10 minutes later (by then, all the people waiting for the elevator had chosen to use the staircase, all except for Lorelai) she got in and found herself face to face with the coffee guy from this morning.

"What are you still doing here?" she asked him nonchalantly while pushing the button. He looked at her in surprise

"I just enjoyed your café on the roof, quite a lovely view from up there, you ever been there?" "No, unlike you, some people have to work" she retaliated.

He merely shrugged and turned his attention toward the control panel as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"Do you expect it to start talking any minute? Cause let me tell you-"She was cut off by the elevator suddenly coming to a halt. Her eyes widened

"God, please don't tell me this is really what I think it is?"

Frantically she started pushing buttons randomly and rested her head against the cool wood when she discovered that her technique didn't have the effect she wanted it to have.

She hit the panel with her hand and pushed herself away from it

"I can't believe it, I cannot _believe_ this, I can't fucking **_believe it!_**"

She kicked the door forcefully which made Luke back away from her until his back was against the far side of the cabin.

'_Holy mother of God, I'm stuck here in this elevator with my claustrophobia and on top of that I'm stranded with a maniac.... This is really not my day'_ He shrugged again and said matter-of-factly "Yup, we're stuck. Let's just hope that someone will notice before you hurt yourself. Or me. Or both for that matter. Hey, stop it, you're only gonna hurt yourself" He put a hand on her shoulder to stop her from banging the door with her fists.

"Don't touch me!" she slapped his hand off her shoulder

"Fine, go ahead, I'm sure this'll help!"

"Hey, don't use that sarcastic tone with me, like I'm some kind of idiot! I'm sure they'll notice that I didn't show up to this really important meeting and get us out of here."

He slid down to the floor on the elevator wall and looked up at her pacing figure.

"So Duke, I'm curious now: Why didn't you have to go back to your working place?"

"It's Luke" he said quietly

"What??"

"My name's not Duke, it's Luke, as in Lucas Danes" He extended his hand to her and the shook it "Lorelai Gilmore, nice to meet you" His mouth dropped open

"Lorelai Gilmore? As in 'Lorelai Gilmore International Advertising Incorporation'??"

"Yup that's me, but if you hear somebody calling someone "The Bitch" "The Hag" "The Grumpster" "Heinous person" "Man-eating slut" that's also me."

"Wow."

"Yeah I guess that they wouldn't vote me 'Miss Congeniality' but I run this place so they'll just have to put up with me cause I'm paying their kids' college fee or dental bill or whatever so everybody pretends to like me and they only think the part about stabbing me from behind while I walk away. But I can handle this, you know, lots of practice over the years and...." she narrowed her eyes at him and he prepared himself for the next insult directed at him

"You still didn't answer my question" He blinked a few times

"Excuse me?"

"You still didn't answer why you didn't have to return to your work after saving my day with a cup of coffee" she repeated, patiently, which kind of caught him off-guard

"Oh that, that's because I own this place, it's actually just a diner in a small town, but people _consistently_ tell me that I'm making the best coffee in Connecticut."

"Well, not only in Connecticut, it's the best coffee I ever drank and I have very high standards my friend"

"I have no doubt" he muttered under his breath

"What was that?"

"Oh nothing, I'm glad you liked it. Sooo... you run this place huh?"

"Yes... Uh so the weather is really nice today don't you think?"

Feeling kinda weird around a edgy person like that he decided that the best topic would be the weather.

"Look, Luke was it? You don't have to small-talk me, cause I have to do so much small-talking all day long with people I don't really like so I'm already small-talked out for today. I mean why does everybody feel like they have to talk to me, just because I'm the boss here doesn't make me wanna talk to random people, so if you can't find anything to talk to me, just leave it, okay?"

"Are you always like this?"

"Like...." she gesticuled for him to go on

"Like this totally man-hating woman who snaps and yells at everyone and feels like she can give everybody a hard time all the time just because she's the boss. I'm just trying to start up a conversation here and you just start rambling at me like a fury. So I'm sorry if I triggered your bad behaviour but there is no excuse for you talking to me like that. To talk to anyone like that for that matter" She looked at the floor

"Well, do you know how it is to be in a business like mine? No you don't cause it's hell on earth,

that's what it is. It's dirty, that's what business is, you cannot be a milquetoast muppet, you have to have pointy teeth and jaws that snap; the Meek shall not inherit the earth!"

"Thanks for the lesson Mister Gecko, but I'm not in your business so why do you yell at me like you did? I didn't give you any reason to, did I?"

"No you didn't and I wanna tell you I'm sorry. I'm just in this 'mode' where I snap at everybody so that they're efficient workers. So tell me about your diner, is it like Rick's American Restaurant' in Casablanca?" He chuckled at the reference

"Well it is cool but nothing like Rick's...."

They talked about the diner for a few minutes until they heard a loud creaking noise and the elevator started to move again.

"Thank God" Lorelai exclaimed and got up immediately.

"It was a pleasure Sir, I really enjoyed your coffee" and with a wave she disappeared through the elevator doors once again.


	2. 2 Chapter

Author's Notes: Okay, this is the second chapter, thanks so much for the reviews guys :) I hope you'll like it and I also hope that it's easier to read than the first one ;)

As Luke drove back to the diner, his mind had time to wander. At first, he was able to concentrate on shipment orders and frying burgers but soon his thoughts circled around the "encounter of the third kind" with Lorelai Gilmore today.

He couldn't quite estimateher, he suspected that there was a soft side to her, a time when she let her guards down. He noticed that she was incredibly beautiful, even (or rather: especially) when she was pissed at someone and babbling about. He couldn't forget her piercing blue eyes that held that certain sparkle within, the full lips and her fragile figure.

'_Stop thinking about her' _he scolded himself '_She wouldn't date a guy like you, I mean she's the most eligible bachelorette in the nation for crying out loud!_'

So he tried to drag his mind off Lorelai and focused on the street in front of him but no matter how hard he tried, her enigmatic eyes just kept popping up in his mind.

'_God, look how pathetic I got, like a teenager_' he shook his head in disbelief.

There was a soft knock on the door before the secretary came in tentatively

"Miss Gilmore, a woman named Mia called today, she said it was about the Independence Inn and you should please call her back, here's her number"

"Thanks Gracie" Lorelai stared out of the window, somehow oblivious to the outside world. Gracie had never seen her boss like this but whatever it was, she was glad it had happened cause today was the first time that her boss had thanked her for anything or hadn't snapped at her right away.

"So, if you need anything, I'll be outside" with that, she retreated quietly.

Lorelai let her gaze wander over the skyline of New York as it lay bathed in late fall sunlight, passing over the Empire State, the Chrysler Building and the open wound that 9/11 left in place of the World Trade Center.

And along with her gaze, her mind began to wander.

Why did she feel so giddy inside, like she wanted to smile all the time?

Did it have anything to do with the gruffy yet sensible diner/coffee guy she got stuck with this morning?

'_He probably was so glad to finally get away from me, I've been nothing but horrible to him all the time. Yup, I've used all my charms' _she mentally ticked them off

'_Yelling, snapping, being grumpy, snarling.... anything else? Nah, I think that's enough to ensure that he'll never wanna see me again_.'

Sighing miserably she reluctantly turned back to her work but her mind chose another path. '_He was quite handsome with this stubble of his and if I remember correctly he did have a very fine butt... Geez, what am I doing thinking about this guy's butt.... It had a nice shape to it though... Not too wobbly, just something to grab on to- **STOP**! This is unbelievable, I'm fantasizing about some guy I only met a few hours ago, to whom I talked for about half an hour and who probably had already forgotten that I existed when he walked out the door!!_'

She couldn't have been more wrong though, because Luke didn't forget about her at all, in fact he tried everything to do so, but he had no luck. He couldn't get her out of the system and even though he'd lie through his teeth if prompted, he didn't even want to.

But Luke never talked about this to anyone, not to his sister Liz nor to his parents, because he knew that they'd only shatter his hopes by telling him that she was way out of his league, something that he managed to ignore for the time being.


End file.
